The blogosphere this week was alight with the news that a new company, “Cherp“, had been created solely to consult with clients on how to use Twitter.

Huh?  Like many, I question the business model based on one tool (sorry, “platform”) with a micro-purpose.

“Tell me I need a blog and I’ll kick your ass straight through those <expletive> doors.”  That’s what the President of a very successful company said to my business partner, not long into our introductory meeting.  He’s rich.  He’s influential.  The company is doing just fine, thank you.  He has no time to blog, much less microblog.  Good thing we didn’t mention Twitter.  He’s also a seasoned hunter.

An important part of my job is to sit back and observe what goes on in the social media space, so our clients don’t have to.  This week, these past few months, however, the Twittersphere is strutting an importance I think is greater than the sum of the parts.

Take this example:  “Janet” joins Twitter and pretends to be an official rep of Exxon Mobil.  “See?”, says the Twittersphere.  “Another excellent example of why Twitter is so important.  Hooray for Exxon!”

Poops.  Jeremiah Owyang breaks the news: Exxon has never heard of “Janet”.  Their reaction?  “We need to be diligent about what is being said about you, by you, and those pretending to be you”.  Doesn’t sound like a panicing company to me.  He/they have likely never heard of Twitter, either, but I don’t think it seemed to matter too much.  They’ve ignored Twitter since the incident.   What does that tell you?

Personally, I was duped by the importance of the news, too.  The day the ‘brand hijacking’ story broke, a non-social media aware friend picked me up for a BBQ:

Him: “Hey, what’s goin’ on?”
Me (half-jokingly): “Exxon Mobil has been brand hijacked on Twitter!”
Him: “What’s a Twitter?”
Me: “Oh, a really popular network I hang out on.  Get in the game, pal!”
(he turns on the car radio - Jeff Healey is playing)
Me: “You know, I’d love to see this guy.”
Him: “That might be hard.  He died of cancer about a month ago.”
Me: “What?  I never heard that!”
Him: “They didn’t tell you on Twitter?”

Lesson - I gotta get out more.

Now, I think more are re-thinking the value of Twitter.  Is it really as important as all that and a bag of chips?  Don’t get me wrong, I happen to really like it.  But I don’t think it is as important as those who have fallen victim to the “ego”.  And it has it’s limitations, ‘platform’ or not.  As Mashable reports, we are starting to see a Twitter casualty count.

Basing a service company on Twitter, might be akin to creating an organization solely devoted to advising clients to buy advertising on one TV channel, during one show.  Hmmmm…..

In any case, if I were an investor, or a potential client, I’d be happy to hear the CEO say “Rest assured, I’m not taking it lightly anymore“.  Well, better late than never, I suppose.

With the explosive hype despite continual “fail whales”, I can’t help but wonder what’s behind Twitter.

I think if I were Mel Brooks or Zero Mostel, I’d be nervous.